DIGIA: Qt’s Official New Home

We have heard that Nokia has sold its Qt commercial licensing and services business to Digia back in March 2011. Now, Digia fully acquires the Qt business and software technologies from Nokia including the transfer of some 3,500 desktop and embedded customers actively using Qt today.

Digia is a Finnish software company quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (DIG1V). Digia, with nearly 1,200 employees, operates in Asia, Europe and America with offices in Finland, China, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the USA.

Nokia acquired Qt from Trolltech back in January of 2008 to reinforce its software development skills. Qt framework is the heart of Symbian and MeeGo development but since Nokia has shifted to a Windows Phone-centric smartphone strategy, and it is quite apparent to divest their control for Qt. Digia plans to “quickly enable” Qt on Android, iOS, and Windows 8 devices according to the company.

Head of Nokia strategy, Sebastian Nyström, says the company is “proud of the contributions we’ve made to Qt over the past four years,” and that the Digia acquisition will allow Qt to “continue as a successful open source project.”

Sebastian Nyström, Nokia Vice President, Application and Service Frameworks, had this to say about the agreement:

“Nokia will continue to invest in developing Qt as a cross-platform framework for mobile, desktop and embedded segments, focusing on open source development and expansion, we wanted a partner who can drive the commercial licensing and services business around Qt. Digia has proven, in-depth Qt expertise, operational excellence and a keen interest in growing and improving the overall Qt community and so well positioned to expand the Qt Commercial licensing and services business.”

The Qt framework is used in a number of applications like Adobe Photoshop Elements, VLC, Skype, and Autodesk Maya. Google, Samsung, and RIM have all used the framework to create apps that are available cross-platform. A final release of Qt 5, the next major version, is expected in September and will include full support for OpenGL / OpenGL ES graphics acceleration.

The full acquisition of Qt from Nokia is good move to further strenghten their mobile strategy as they focus on Windows Phone and Series 40. Upon this acquisition, Nokia will still be a part of Qt’s development but no longer their focus. This option, I think, still goes to Nokia’s best interest because it will not only reduce their RnD expenses but at the same time they will also gain benefits from whatever development Qt will have in the future. And most of all, Digia and Nokia are both a Finnish company.

Read the Full Press Release:

Digia to acquire Qt commercial licensing business from Nokia

Digia to support broader use of Qt in consumer electronics, industry machines, and other embedded and desktop software solutions.

Helsinki, Finland 7.3.2011. Digia Plc. (DIG1V) has signed an agreement with Nokia to acquire the Qt commercial licensing and services business. Through the proposed acquisition, around 3500 desktop and embedded customer companies from various industries are targeted to be transferred to Digia. The transaction is expected to be closed by the end of March 2011. Nokia will continue to invest in future development of Qt for the benefit of all users, both Commercial and LGPL.

As a result, the commercial licensing and service operations business is to be run by Digia, with existing and new commercial customers, who will benefit from the continuity of development of desktop and embedded Qt functionality and new service models. Building on Digia’s leading Qt expertise, this acquisition further accelerates Digia’s direction towards international, product based business and significantly widens Digia’s Qt customer base. To further strengthen its global presence, Digia will establish subsidiaries in USA and Norway as part of the transaction.

The use of Qt as an application and UI framework has been growing since Nokia’s acquisition of Trolltech in 2008. Qt is actively used by around 3500 desktop and embedded customer companies which will be transferred to Digia upon closing. The commercial customers represent a broad range of industries, e.g. consumer electronics, finance, aviation, energy, defence and media. Qt usage has increased the need for solid commercial support and services executed with strong focus. Digia’s additional investment in Qt Commercial licensing and services business on top of Nokia’s significant Qt development work creates a solid foundation and additional boost for creating business solutions with Qt, and opportunity for customers to benefit from Digia services.

“Qt continues to be an important technology for Nokia and it is critical that Qt’s growth and success can continue. While Nokia will continue to invest in developing Qt as a cross-platform framework for mobile, desktop and embedded segments, focusing on open source development and expansion, we wanted a partner who can drive the commercial licensing and services business around Qt. Digia has proven, in-depth Qt expertise, operational excellence and a keen interest in growing and improving the overall Qt community and so well positioned to expand the Qt Commercial licensing and services business,” says Sebastian Nyström, Vice President, Head of MeeGo, Qt and Webkit at Nokia.

“We are excited to extend our Qt business to serve our new customers. Building on our in-depth Qt expertise and experience from demanding mission critical solutions, we will offer world-class commercial licensing and support services to Qt Commercial customers. We also look forward to driving further the evolution of Qt by bringing in new features and services,” says Harri Paani, Senior Vice President from Digia.

Use of Qt in mission critical solutions reinforced – with proven experience

Digia has an ideal background for growing the Qt commercial licensing business and meeting the needs of current Qt commercial customers. Digia’s unique position for Qt commercial business stems from the combination of long track-record in Qt projects since early 2000, creating and operating mission critical business solutions for several industries and commercial software licensing business models. In addition to avoiding open source license restrictions, many customers prefer a commercial relationship that provides professional, responsive support and services ensuring success in their mission critical business solutions.

Digia is a recognized Qt innovator

Digia is dedicated to continuing and growing the Qt commercial relationships and to contributing innovation to the overall Qt community. Digia has stood out in the market as a profitable growth company and recognized Qt innovator, bringing to life the latest Qt technologies in the forefront of the market. With hundreds of Qt experts, Digia is a leading provider of Qt solutions and services.

In addition to acquiring the business responsibility over Qt Commercial licensing and services, Digia also plans to employ 19 persons from Nokia’s technical consulting services team and global Qt Commercial sales and marketing teams. That is targeted to ensuring that the customers will continue to deal with the people they already know.

Digia will invest in the development of Qt as a commercial framework. In particular the plan is to emphasize Qt in the desktop and embedded environments and to examine new support models and functionality requests. Digia will provide commercial customers with improvements in support and functionality for older platforms that were not on the Nokia development roadmap. The holders of a Qt commercial license will be informed about the details separately.

This acquisition will further accelerate Digia’s direction towards international, product based business and significantly widens the customer base for Digia’s Qt business. It also provides Digia’s Enterprise Solution business a world-class offering that has strong synergy with Digia’s Mobile Solution business and expertise.

Digia in brief
Digia’s driver is the desire to succeed. It offers its customers success, through inventive solutions that enhance operational efficiency, improve user experiences and increase sales. Digia helps its customers become forerunners. With almost 1,600 top experts, Digia enables its customers to benefit from changes in the market, making the future a mutual success. Digia is known for swiftly embracing new technologies, to its customers’ benefit.
Digia’s offering includes ERP systems, and mobile and user experience services and solutions. The company’s customers are businesses and organisations from various industries, with an emphasis on public administration, industry, mobile industry, retail, services, banking and insurance. Digia operates in Finland, Russia, China and Sweden. The company is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange (DIG1V).
www.digia.com

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